A Different Side Of Jesus

The past week we completed the historical Old Testament books and the prophets, as well as finishing the New Testament by studying Matthew. We left Matthew until we had completed those Old Testament books because Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience that would have known their Old Testament. I really enjoyed going through the gospel of Matthew after we had completed the majority of the Old Testament because it really brought to life who these people were that he was talking to. I was able to understand what they were thinking when it came to their religious ideas and also their ideas of what the Messiah was suppose to be like.

From the very beginning til the end of Matthew I saw a different side of Jesus that I was not really expecting or actually one that is talked about. I saw Jesus be intentional in his confrontations with the crowds that gathered around him. I saw him intentionally ask questions to the Pharisees and Sadducees (The religious leaders) that challenged their beliefs and what they found their hope and security in. This interaction between the religious leaders and Jesus is one that I found fascinating because the prophets prophesied that when the Messiah came things were not going to go well for those who were in leadership positions. Time and time again in the prophets, they state how the leaders of the temple and of Israel are going to be judged; which when you think about it makes complete sense as to why they watch Jesus, who is calling himself the Messiah, so closely. Jesus just came at these guys and went right at their hearts and really challenged them to do someone with who he is and what he is saying about himself. My view of this interaction would be described as: Jesus pissed these guys off with so much truth and challenged them to change things that they believed with their whole life and things that their lives were centered in to the point as to where the only option they had was to accept what he was saying or to kill him.

Seeing how intentional Jesus was with his teaching and his life really impacted me. During lecture Mark Masucci laid out how Jesus’ life retells the story of Israel and how Jesus is the perfect Israel. Jesus’ life was intentional so that the first century Jews would be able to see what he is doing and understand that he is perfecting things that went wrong in their history. I love his intention and how purposeful he was to really challenge people to deal with him. It has really inspired me to be intentional with how I live. I want to be someone who is intentionally living for God and whose actions reflect what I believe. I am someone who usually backs down from confrontation because I don’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers, but this is the complete opposite of how Jesus was. I want to be someone that challenges others with the way that I live and the way that I speak because Jesus is the model for our lives. I want to lead by example and let the light of Christ in my life shine into the world.